Poll - Why are you a Land Surveyor?

2
and for some reason 3

Became one because of 5. (long story, no one cares)
Stayed with it. Why not?
Gotta do something.

Don

I get to play in the dirt and make a good living doing it. What's not to like?

I used to help my Grandpa put up fence. (I was probably more in the way than a helper.) I wouldn't let him zigzag it at all. He said I would be a surveyor.
I went to school to be in forestry but wound up surveying. Damn Damn Damn!

Because I can be.

I would never make it as a ballet star or runway model or bedpan retriever, etc.

I enjoy mysteries. Always have. I enjoy studying local history. I enjoy socializing with all sorts and levels of people (clients, mainly). It is something I can do without punching a timeclock or worrying about when the corporate axe will fall next. Its a nice mix of indoors and outdoors with a chance to wander from place to place and get paid to do it. Shovels and software. Chopping line and storing megabytes. Outsmarting lawyers and those who think they don't have to pay for services rendered. It's something from which you can never really retire as evidenced by all the photos posted here showing survey monuments found in weird places.

5. Other

My father is a surveyor. In 4th grade, I had to draw a self portrait entitled "Me as what I want to be". I drew myself as a surveyor. The portrait is framed and hangs in the office.

If only I had drawn myself as a Rock Star Billionaire...

Seriously, I was considering becoming a Math Teacher. Then I realized I do not have the patience to teach. The economy was starting to boom, so I went to work for the family firm. I was then hooked.

Some of all, but I have stayed with it because I truly love my job. So # 2.

With all do respect, I find it funny that you would be taking a pole, after ready your reply to Observer28, I was asking myself why you would be surveying and posting here when you painted such a measurable picture. I agree that we all have to make money to survive, but you said...

>I also hear a many surveyors touting the virture of being your own man, no boss, creating your own destiny.....well guess what there are many ways to do that that will actually be lucrative ventures and true adventures, but chosing to do something that makes no money or just enough to survive actually locks you down not frees you.

This is not the case for all of us. Because of the poor economy, I went from working 50-60 hours a week running a company with 3 or 4 crews and lots of headaches were I was becoming less and less happy. To now, I am solo with my kids, which is a big plus and very rewarding. I only work 2 days a week in the field and do most of my office work at home in one day a week. I have enough income to support the family, nice house, nice cars, and my wife stays home also. I hope you can find some of the happiness that being a surveyor has brought to my family.

Scott

> I hope you can find some of the happiness that being a surveyor has brought to my family.
>
> Scott

Thank you Scott, I appreciate the sentiment. I ate, drank, slept surveying for over a quarter of a century, it has fed and clothed me, put a roof over my head, and I've had a great time for the most part.

However, for me my reasons for getting in and staying in the business dynamically fluctuated along a spectrum from early years doing it for fun & adventure to later years mostly just for the money with a little fun mixed in.

I know what the average surveyor makes in every position, most every business circumstance, and the history of surveyors pay since the late 70's.

I have worked for $5.50 per hour and have made over $250,000 pure profit but my time in the business has run its course for the most part because I found something new right in my sweet spot and am having a blast with it.

For me, surveying has served as a foundation and platform to get somewhere else, messing with it when I get old does not really appeal to me, there was actually a moment when I set up a tripod a while back and I knew that would be the last time....

I hang out here because I've always enjoyed the comradery with other surveyors for the most part, land surveying will always have a special place with me, and will always be a part of me, after 25 years how could it not be.

More Fun Than Engineering

And less money too.

Paul in PA

"I was born this way", it was like "I want a new drug" it was surveying and all I had to do was "Act naturally".

B-)

Because I was too dumb to drive a bulldozer!

Now, I'm too old to want to change!

N

:good:

5. Chicks dig surveyors

Truth, Justice and the American Way!!!

[sarcasm]5- Too Proud to beg, too lazy to steal....;-) [/sarcasm]

actually - 2- If I didn't enjoy it (fun), why would I do it?

1. Job is Fun
2. Money

about 32.5 years ago, right after graduating from college in east Tejas, i was going through a divorce and attempting to do all of the right things to make things work. she didn't like my job (night club manager) or the way that i lived (way too much partying).

anyway, i searched for another job. went to Snelling & Snelling, one of those job agencies. the little gal asked me what my ideal job would be. you could look through her glass eye and see the cogs in her brain stop when i said, "I would like for someone to pay me to wander around in the woods." well, there weren't many jobs that fit that mold in her stack.

a few months later i gave up on the marriage and moved back to my college town to go back to school for a masters.

six months later i found a job where someone paid me to wander around in the woods. that job was as a tail chainman.

been doing it ever since, and have been blessed/lucky enough to make a living and raise a family.

i wouldn't do it if it weren't fun, nor if i couldn't provide for my family.

i work to make money, otherwise...let's go fishing.

> Became one because of 5. (long story, no one cares)
> Stayed with it. Why not?
> Gotta do something.
>
> Don

Come on Don, lets hear it, how did surveying select you? Why did you stay?

Yes Don we are all curious.

> 5. Other
>
> My father is a surveyor. In 4th grade, I had to draw a self portrait entitled "Me as what I want to be". I drew myself as a surveyor. The portrait is framed and hangs in the office.
>
> If only I had drawn myself as a Rock Star Billionaire...

hahahaha.....:good: